Chapter Text
Guest666 had been wandering again, spiritually, but not physically. It was just one of those things the people at the building got used to. Ever since he arrived, it had been happening more often than not. Nobody in the house really commented on it anymore, not even c00lkidd, who usually had something sarcastic to say about practicallyeverything.
Lately, though, the visions they had been getting have been getting worse. His nights weren't just normal nights anymore. They have been seeing places. Familiar in a way that made their stomach twist.
Dark corridors. The corners of the room. The motionlesshum of something watching. And always... that one lake. It kept showing up in places it didn't belong in, at the end of hallways. He'd even seen it blink at him once. He wasn't sure how, but he knew it did.
Sometimes he would even try not to make himself go to sleep just to avoid getting into these messes anymore, despite how tired he got.
Tonight, it was in the ruins of a forgotten moderator’s, unspecified who it was but they were certain it was a monderator’s office. It was somewhere in an abandoned admin sector. He didn't know why he kept getting drawn to places like this. He didn't even remember walking there.
His shadow body, thin and fraying at the edges, glid at the doorway. The place where a desk should've been, the lake now replaced it. The waters inside didn't move. But it watched.
He knew this place. Not like a memory. Like it was coded into him.
A place he had seen before he was born.
Something moved inside the water. It was a pile of eyes, rather moving like a shadow. The eyes were white and they sparked. That frightened him, and they tried to pull back, to return to their body, but something resisted. Their connection stretched, their soul caught between the vision and the real world, the office. For a second, he saw both.
Then—
Snap.
He was back.
He gasped like he'd been drowning into huge bodies of water and he jumped up suddenly from his bed. The cabin he was in was quite quiet. Someone was snoring in the room next to his. From the living room came soft sound of cans clinking together it was 1x messing with physics again. Probably making them float in dumb places just to make time pass.
Guest rubbed his face. His fingers came away wet. Not sweat. Well, water.
“Great…” he muttered, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. Everything about him just felt heavier tonight.
He found 1x exactly where he expected, stretched out across the couch.
“You're soaking.” 1x commented without looking.
Guest stared at his soaked sleeves, rubbing at his arm again. "Yeah. Thanks.” he responded sarcastically.
1x turned his head just slightly. His single eye narrowed at the slight black tint extended by Guest's arm.
"That's new."
Guest didn't answer.
The cans froze midair. 1x actually sat up a little. That was rare.
"Where were you tonight?"
"Nowhere."
"Liar."
Guest exhaled sharply, tired. They were too tired to argue.
"On some Admin sector.” he said finally. "At an old moderator’s office. There was... a lake."
"Describe it." 1x demanded.
Guest hesitated. "Surrounded by dark stone. Really dark water almost like a shadow. It felt like it was looking at me and it was full of eyes, brighter than the stars itself. And I think I..." He swallowed. "I think I knew it."
1x didn't speak. It just stared. Their silence was worse than sarcasm. Worse than getting scolded.
"You can't go back there.” he said after a while. Their words held weight.
Guest gave a bitter half laugh. "Why do you care?"
1x's Crown scars gave a brief flicker. Enough to light the worry on his face. Enough to show he did care.
“Because it’s still with you.” it said, pointing at his arm.
Guest looked down. There was no reflection like there would be in a normal block, just pure darkness.
And after returning to his room, he didn't sleep after that. Not really. Just lay still on his bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling the slow chill of something still watching him.
By the time the room started to lighten from the artificial day cycle, he'd already made up his mind.
He couldn't keep running from this.
He grabbed his sweater and cap and moved toward the door as quietly as he could. If he was fast, maybe nobody would notice.
But of course, someone did.
"Going somewhere?"
Its voice slid through his head telepathically, calm but firm. He turned and of course 1x was standing. But in the halls now, arms crossed, watching him like he had been the whole time.
"I'm not going to stop you.” he said. "But don't act like I didn't notice."
Guest looked away. "I just... need to check something. Alone."
1x stepped forward a bit, lowering his voice. "You're going back to it?"
"I have to."
"You think it's just gonna let you walk away after that?"
666 pulled their sleeves down a little. They were still cold. Still damped. "I don't know, but I'm not going to wait around for it to show up again either."
There was silence again. A thick kind.
1x sighed through his nose. "You haven't stayed at your apartment in weeks."
"I know."
"Then why now?"
"I don't want this thing haunting me anymore."
"And you think confronting it will fix that?"
"Not really." Guest said quietly. "But at least I'll feel like I tried."
He started to turn away.
"If they ever ask, tell the others I'm at my apartment." he added. "Just visiting, I'll be back before thunder.”
1x didn't say anything at first. But then..
"If you're not.” he muttered "I'm coming after you."
Guest gave a small, tired, forced smile. "Figured."
And with that, he slipped out the door, into the dark streets.
WARNING: ENTITY [BLOXWATCH] HAS FLAGGED USER [GUEST666] FOR OBSERVATION